canonfanonfandomcom-20200214-history
Blade Runner (U.S. TV broadcast version)
The United States network television premiere broadcast version of the 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner is the theatrical version shown by television company CBS, which included a significant time cut that edited 3 minutes from this film, to tone down the violence, profanity, and nudity to meet broadcasting restrictions of American television, which in the 1980s, was quite difficult to do for a film like this. It was shown in 1986 and ran for 114 minutes, it has never seen an official release on video or DVD, and only exists in someone’s homemade VHS library. The film is loosely based on Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?" About it The United States television broadcast version of Blade Runner is devoid of all violence, sexual content, and coarse language, as it tones down any material the folks at standards and practices might cluck their tongues at, if you’re looking for family-friendly existential fun. The result of scrubbing out all the sexy women and the profanity, and having the violence scaled way back, is not a pale imitation of the real thing, because a parent is able to share their favorite Philip K. Dick adaptation with their child, without the fear that they may traumatize the little one for life. This version is preceded by a CBS "Saturday Night Movie" teaser that explains the premise of the movie, making it clear that Rick Deckard is not a replicant, and declaring "Blade Runner: Where Love Could Be The Deadliest Sin". The initial actual text of the opening text crawl at the start of the movie, explaining what a replicant is, is different from the theatrical release: "Early in the 21st Century, robots known as Replicants were created as off-world slave labor. Identical to humans, replicants were superior in strength and agility, and at least equal in intelligence, to the genetic engineers who created them. After a bloody mutiny, replicants were declared illegal on earth. Special police squads, blade runner Units, had orders to shoot to kill trespassing replicants. This was not called execution. It was called 'retirement'", is read by an anonymous announcer, and not Harrison Ford. The missing scenes are: One of Bryant's lines was changed to "Don't be an a**, Deckard." The mention of Christ's name as a profanity was cut from Bryant's line, "Deckard, you look almost as bad as that skin job you left on the sidewalk." The mild swear word "d***" was cut from Bryant's line "He's a one man slaughter house." All scenes showing Zhora's breasts have been removed. Roy's line, "I want more life, father." was changed to "I want more life." Roy's murder of Tyrell is much shorter than in all other versions. The fight between Pris and Deckard is heavily edited; all shots of Pris thrashing on the ground after being shot were cut, as were all the scenes where Deckard's head is trapped between her legs. Differences between the novel and the film Many changes were made to Philip K. Dick's original novel: Originally, the action happens in San Francisco in 1992. The movie takes place in Los Angeles in 2019. In the book, the action happens a few decades after a Terminal World War that depleted planet Earth, leaving the planet almost empty of population. In the movie, all references about the Terminal World War are omitted, and Los Angeles appears simply overpopulated and polluted. In the book, the artificial humans are simply called androids. In the movie, they are named Replicants or 'skin jobs'. In the original novel, the company that makes the Replicants is the Rossen Association. In the movie is the Tyrell Corporation. The original owner of the company who created Replicants is Eldon Rossen. In the movie, he is Eldon Tyrell. In the novel is explained that almost all of mankind has emigrated to planet Mars in order to escape the toxic radiation on planet Earth. In the movie, Mars is changed to the "Off-World colonies", to give the idea that human race has colonized several planets in outer space. In the book, the biggest symbol of status is to have a live animal as pet, since most of them have gone extinct. In the movie, this has been omitted, but it is implied that real animals are so scarce and expensive that replicated animals have become standard. In the novel, Deckard is married to a woman called Iran and their pet is a mechanical sheep, being their dream to have a real sheep. In the movie, his civil status is divorced and all references to the sheep were left out. The special police unit that prosecutes the Replicants is called Rep Detect in the book, short of "Replicants Detection". In the movie, they are simply known as Blade Runners. In the book, there is a subplot about a Replicants' secret organization which helps them to hide from the humans, and escape to Alaska to get away from the radiation. The organization is discovered after an encounter between Deckard and an opera singer called Luba Luft, who is revealed by Deckard as a Replicant. In the movie, it's explained that all Replicants are outlawed on planet Earth after a massacre in an Off-world colony. The character of Luba Luft was completely omitted. In the novel, the Voight-Kampff's test was recently created by the doctors Johann Voight and Lurie Kampff to measure the emotional responses of the humans to distinguish them of Replicants. In the movie, the names of the creators are omitted and it's established that the test has been part of the job for a long time. In the book, all people share a telepathic religion called Mercerism, created and led by Wilbur Mercer. The Mercerers use "Empathy Boxes" to connect with other members of the order to share their emotions, bringing the ability to elect that emotion they want to feel. In the movie all references to Mercerism were completely omitted. At the end of the book, Deckard finally unites his mind with Wilbur Mercer, becoming only one being and causing Deckard to be the new leader of the Mercerism. In the original film ending, Deckard and Rachael flee Los Angeles to live together in the north. In later re-editions, the movie ends a scene before, when Deckard finds Rachael sleeping in his apartment and they walk into an elevator, heading into an unknown future. Category:Movies